Author: John Oestmann

Storywriting

After a few years, I’m bringing back the storywriting attached to my world-building albums. You’ll see I’ve now replaced the DigiChip Academy videos with the story versions. The rest of the album (and hopefully future albums) will continue this! For accessibility purposes, I’m also putting the story text on each track’s page. …
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IV. Grove of the Gravekeeper

*note: this video was originally from 2022 – so the end card is out of date. I do still have a Patreon, but you can follow me on Mastodon. — Finally I found the graveyard where my grandparents lay,Slain by the Saintwho had once held this land in safety. It wasn’t just them:rows upon rows…
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III. Gallery of Slashed Paintings

*note: this video was originally from 2022 – so the end card is out of date. I do still have a Patreon, but you can follow me on Mastodon. — Father, forgive me.I had not been able to end this land’s curse.Not today. Though she had not killed me either,when my consciousness returnedI was in…
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II. Chapel of the Broken Knight

*note: this video was originally from 2022 – so the end card is out of date. I do still have a Patreon, but you can follow me on Mastodon. — The inner chapel was small and dark,though clusters of flickering candlesilluminated the outlines of a shattered altarand broken pews.I could not see a crucifix. I…
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I. Garden of Merchants

*note: this video and track was originally from 2022 – so the end card is out of date. I do still have a Patreon, but you can follow me on Mastodon. — When I first arrived at the gardenssurrounding the fortress’ inn chapel,I found it filled with silken merchantsbartering wares to sell back to their…
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Our Role as the Humans in the room

Update 5 Feb 26: Within 48 hours of writing this, MoltBook crashed and burned. Fortunately, as I wrote below, it was still a great thought experiment of what could come of true socially-networked AIs – and even if it never does, how we should act remains the same. — Seeing MoltBook emerge over the last…
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Disk Drive Ambient EP now released!

Grab it at https://johnoestmannmusic.bandcamp.com/album/disk-drive-ambient …
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goals.txt

Audible Planets was previously used in creating times, but due to upfront perceived complexity and CPU strain, it hadn’t been brought back into the workflow up until this track. This felt like the right time to explore it, and use that exploration as creative fuel. It turned out to be easier than expected after reading…
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DDA03

Back in the 90s, Aphex Twin used the term “Ambient” to name an album filled with drums. That fact gives permission for percussion-driven tracks like this one to emerge on an EP already branded “ambient.” It is understandably not ideal for everyone – especially for those looking for a more pure “ambient” throughline. On the…
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DDA02

This one took longer than it might seem. I’m constantly reminding myself not to be scared to strip out elements if it makes the music more potent. — _software-used: samplv1, AmiSampler, Vitalium, ZL Equalizer 2, REEV-R, QDelay, Ardour_samples-used: MechSounds_download: DDA02.wav_project: DDA02-SOURCE.zip_license: CC0 / Public Domain dedicated…
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DDA01

There is something about the repeated mechanical sounds of old hard drives that are surprisingly nostalgic. Yet, like other sound-keys, they unlock and pull us back to an era when operating systems GUIs were forced to be smart with screenspace, and tended to menu out in well-organised ways. Feeding a long sample of pink noise…
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VS Thunderbolt Professor

Professor Hildr Raystrom welcomes me to her pitch dark arena. My eyes trace the dimly lit outline of her outstretched hand, up brace-wrapped arm, and to the huge thundercoil looming behind her. With a sudden snap of her fingers, blue and fuchsia lightning bolts scream out from the coil and into electrogenerators, previously cloaked in…
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“DigiChip Duel” – Deconstructed

_download + project: https://johnoestmannmusic.com/digichip-duel/…
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DigiChip Duel

Nothing else matches the feeling. DigiChip duelists spend their lives forging and reforging their Decks – as expressions of their personality, and as tools of the trade in the world’s biggest sport. Elemental synergies. Metagame strategies. Diffusion, diversion, and disarmament techniques. We study for years outside of the game, but we learn most on the…
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Roadtrip

Henry was my best friend growing up. He’s the one who pushed me to come to DigiChip Academy to develop my craft. I remember our last roadtrip, cutting through the mountains cradling our town, magcycling out to Menna Coast. Along the long road, we chatted. I wanted to run away from the family shop. It…
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Thunderbolt Lab

White-plate walls and pulsing neon lightlines frame the interconnected rooms of the Thunderbolt Lab. Students here are specialized in the Electric Element, which is reflected in the way they jolt between tapping experiments into computer consoles and observing results arc outward from desk-bolted coils. Thunderbolt students duel with Decks that start slow and charge up…
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Smol Penguin! tiny game released!

If you liked “It’s Time to Go Home”, you’ll love “Smol Penguin!”Haydn Smith has created another tiny & super charming game, and I gladly did the soundtrack again. Play the game at https://badmojoverybad.itch.io/smol-penguinand then download the tracks when you’re done! https://johnoestmannmusic.bandcamp.com/album/smol-penguin-original-game-soundtrack…
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DigiChip Monastery

There are eight railrider lines in eight elemental biome directions. I happen upon a lonely ninth line: north-north-west goes to DigiChip Monastery. Lining the hall of the monastery are huge statues of history’s DigiChip Champions, bathed in sunset that streams through circular skylights. Monks of all ages and body types dot the hall, silently cleaning…
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Component Workshop

Phalde must be in his late fifties, is built like brick wall, and has a streak dyed of turquoise through his graying hair and beard. I’m told he can be seen hammering away at many of the machinations throughout Academy Island, but in the Component Workshop he is most happy. Funnily enough, customizing the Components…
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Starter Deck

“Welcome to DigiChip Academy!” I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited as I am now, being welcomed by the hologram of the Academy’s virtual raccoon mascot, RC-0N. I can’t hide my smile. DigiChips have been my life, and my mother’s before me. We run a small DigiChip shop on the edge of our town,…
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CSTMSHOP

I took a large break from the album between the previous track and this. Reading about Immanence ignited a curiosity for making music that was more upbeat and danceable, and CSTMSHOP was the first step in this direction. MechSounds was a lot more established by this point, and so I was able to use samples…
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Megasun Horizon

Data-bending is the quite cool technique of converting data of one file type into audio. Mentioned in a recent interview with Djrum, the technique is much older, with its roots in circuit-bending. As it turns out, Audacity is the go-to tool for importing any file into raw audio waveforms, and Gimp’s fractal tools work well…
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a_new_day_in_the_workshop [ Vol II ] out now!

It may be unconventional, but this short album is probably the truest expression of myself so far. It means a lot to me, and I hope you can find a part or few to connect with. Thank you 🙂 https://johnoestmannmusic.bandcamp.com/album/a-new-day-in-the-workshop-vol-ii…
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aesthetic_bonus

The below notes were written at the time of uploading the track, whereas most of the notes on the rest of this album were written months later: This one is simply the previous track slowed down to 72%, and then some additional drums and bass from my MechSounds sound added and lightly processed. Shout out…
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[ Aesthetic | Digital Lateral Prototype Tooling ]

The below notes were written at the time of uploading the track, whereas most of the notes on the rest of this album were written months later. I’ll also add that the title of the track was me trying to pin down the core thread of the music I create. It was partly inspired by…
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submenu

The below notes were written at the time of uploading the track, whereas most of the notes on the rest of this album were written months later. It is worth noting that I was trying to move back into a process that was open-source: All samples were from my own Mechsounds sample pack, then adjusted…
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times

I remember the moment this track “clicked”, I was convinced it was the greatest piece of music I had created. And that validated the intuitive process I had been following over the second half of this album. I am writing this reflection about nine months later, and I still think it is one of the…
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Photographia Sunbox

As with the previous two tracks, this and the remaining tracks on this album were all made through intuitive steps and destructive processes. I am very pleased with the sound design and texturing in the results (somewhat reminiscent of one of my favourite game soundtracks, Machinarium). Though, unfortunately the destructive processes mean I cannot share…
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Patchwork Transformations

Unlike the other tracks on this album, where I wrote a reflection months later, the below notes were actually written at the time of upload: As scary as this is to admit, I’ve currently been trying to follow intuition as my artmaking process more. This is leading me to do more recording of synthesis and…
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Each Work a Pilgrimage

I grew up as a Christian. I started moving away from that faith as a teenager, but have continued to bounce between different spiritualities throughout my life. One of the big reasons for this is that I have always had a fairly strong sense of intuition as to what direction or steps to take next.…
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“CYCLE-0x1C6” – Deconstructed [Vitalium + OpenMPT + Floral Sample Toolkit]

Track and Project: https://johnoestmannmusic.com/cycle-0x1c6/ 0:00 Context5:39 Vitalium10:20 OpenMPT29:03 Floral Sample Toolkit…
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CYCLE-0x1C6

I’ve always been interested in creating my own audio tools. I am most inspired by producers who make their own tools for their workflow (e.g. BT, Aphex Twin). As throughout this album I was wrestling with the musical benefits of destructive processes, but still wanting to stick to a fully-open workflow, I started developing my…
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Wavetable // Stretched Layers

At time of release, I had chosen to name these first three tracks in a way that insinuated the techniques that were being used, to emphasise the nature of each track as an experiment. I chose to drop the naming convention after this track, as I felt that a track’s title is an incredibly powerful…
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PR Seq // Clip Edit

Still in the realm of MIDI being passed between different software, I found that Helio is a very robust piano-roll-based MIDI sequencer. So I swapped out OpenMPT for Helio for this track. I would recommend this, other than the fact you still run into MIDI timing issues when only working “inside the box”. Another technique…
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MIDI Link // Slowdown

Truth be told, I have struggled a lot to keep a consistent output of music. I know I have made it harder on myself to only use open-source tools, and only make projects in a way where every sound and notes can be explored and learned from. I have struggled with relatively low growth on…
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Floral Music Player now Web Embeddable!

I haven’t been able to make music for the last month unfortunately, but today I resurrected my Floral Music Player project – now aimed more at being web embeddable! I’ve been coming to appreciate Godot as one modern equivalent to Flash for making the non-standard (but very interesting) interactive web content – which many of…
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MechSounds Update – 13 Apr 25

Hey everyone, I’ve just updated the MechSounds sample pack to include my additions since December last year. I haven’t released a new track with those additions yet (getting back into the swing of things after some significant career changes – more on that another time), but I figured it was worth sharing the updated version…
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minimal_worlds_ii album out now!

minimal_worlds_ii is now completed, and the full album can be downloaded via the Albums Page! Along with the first minimal_worlds, this is a world of Game Boy music ready to be explored. As always, all tracks are Public Domain + project files are available from the individual track pages. Enjoy!…
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06-thankyou

It was hard to know how to follow up flight_school, especially given that it seemed to break through more than other tracks. Knowing that this was going to be the last track on the album, and that I was feeling like I truly gotten the “Game boy music thing” out of my system, it only…
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🌸 floralmusicplayer

So I’ve learned what I needed to from my first mini-project – a tiny GBA-style mp3 player, built in Godot! I’ve put dev on hiatus to switch to some projects with more specific benefits, but the core functionality and UI is there, and it’s all open under MIT + Public Domain licenses. https://codeberg.org/johnoestmannmusic/floralmusicplayer-godot …
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Beta Music 04 – Fox and Shadow

Sequenced in OpenMPT – https://openmpt.org/I haven’t had a chance to do a breakdown video with OpenMPT yet, but I am using it for everything these days! Keep an eye on Fox and Shadow – https://www.papercactusgames.com/…
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A slight pivot in direction

The announcement I just made, as on social media:“FYI: So, examining where the world is heading, I’ve decided that one of the best things I can do is upskill to develop free open-source software. I will still be making music for games, as well as my own music – just releasing a little less often.…
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05-flight_school

There feels like an interesting trend where my favourite track on each album ends up being the 2nd or 3rd to last one on the album. It makes sense given that I have more experience by that track. Maybe there is a special energy behind feeling like we are near the end of a project.…
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01 | A Midnight Fire

_software: OpenMPT_download: 01-AMidnightFire.wav_project-files: 01-AMidnightFire-SOURCE.zip_samples-used: MechSounds_license: public-domain / cc0…
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NET-CON-01

This is one of the first tracks I made using OpenMPT, which I found to be a great successor to Furnace Tracker in terms of allowing deeper mixing, and straightforward sample playback. By this stage, I had finally gotten over my fear of Windows-95-looking software, and realized that it could actually be very robust. It…
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Freeware Creator Magazine – Oct / Nov 2024

Download the Magazine PDF: 2411-fcm.pdf Official Upload of Freeware Creator Magazine – October / November 2024Celebrating quality art + tools, released for free by their creators. — Oct / Nov 2024 —Featuring: OpenMPTOlivier Lapicque + Community[ Official Site ] PixelfedDaniel Supernault[ Official Site ][ Fediverse Explainer ] ZoteroCorporation for Digital Scholarship[ Official Site ][ Code…
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AI + Automation Research Paper Released!

Between July 2023 and January 2024, our team interviewed a range of Australian Video Game Audio professionals to get a “pulse-check” on how both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and non-AI Automation are affecting their practice. These interviews explored several dimensions of how these practices are being affected: from the emotional and motivational to changing workflows, productivity,…
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RCVRBOOT

One of the tricky limitations of tracker-based DAWs is that the structure disincentivizes entering chords, when compared to a piano roll. For single-voice instruments, it excels. I am constantly inspired by the layered-chord atmospheres of The 1975, and wanted to, at least, use chords with more than 3 notes in this piece. This is certainly…
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Follow me on Bluesky AND Mastodon!

Hey lovely folks,You may or may not already be following me on Mastodon. I’m a big supporter of Open-Source, Fediverse and decentralized socials. After learning a bit more about Bluesky’s openness, I’ve just joined there too and will be running dual accounts for a while. My pipe dream is that Bluesky switches to ActivityPub and…
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“TPE-BOY-02” – Deconstructed

Support this work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnoestmannmusic Track and Project: https://johnoestmannmusic.com/tpe-boy-02/ 0:00 Context2:19 Making Samples with Bespoke Synth9:35 Sequencing with Furnace Tracker13:44 Post Effects and Mixing in Bespoke Synth22:23 Project Files and Summary…
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TPE-BOY-02

I must admit that, while I like how this track turned out, I don’t think it fits the aesthetic of the album. It was intended to express a handheld tape recorder, but in retrospect this aesthetic diverged from the handheld game console “options menu” type theme. Moving forwards, I will try not to consider a…
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MSG-PAL-98-MkII

Inspired by the resurgence in 90s Jungle music, and the drumming that emulates it, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to get better at drum programming. MSG-PAL-98-MkII is a remix of the first one, and despite its “chill” influences, it ended up staying quite bubbly. I tried to keep all sounds quite short…
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MSG-PAL-98

Held in hand Digital heartCraft to guide toward creative lightForget the followsForget the fightsThese designs are not just toysMachines are meant to Spark Joy. — _software: furnace-tracker_download: MSG-PAL-98.wav_project-files: MSG-PAL-98-SOURCE.zip_samples-used: MechSounds_license: public-domain / cc0 …
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a_new_day_in_the_workshop Full Album released!

You can get the full album from https://johnoestmannmusic.bandcamp.com/album/a-new-day-in-the-workshop Or individual tracks + project files through https://johnoestmannmusic.com/albums/ …
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proto_dustbeam

Likely the most ambitious track on the album, the long spacey build of layered Cardinal synthesis crescendos into an irregular drum breakdown. This approach takes a lot of cues from the Trance music world, but tries to utilize a drum beat that is a little less four-to-the-floor. The drawn out melodic sweeps in the breakdown…
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proto_desertmn

proto_desertmn is more experimental, even for me, and yet it’s really not that experimental when you consider my influences. Growing up, when I thought of N64 Zelda music, I never thought of the dungeons. As an adult, I deeply appreciate the sound and instrument design that went in to them. While Koji Kondo did a…
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proto_spokehul

This was actually the first track produced on this album, with the intention of being able to release the project files. The album concept, a_new_day_in_the_workshop, hadn’t emerged yet though. After this, and the two other “proto” tracks were created and released on YouTube (originally without the “proto” name), several things happened around me which diffused…
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Fox and Shadow Kickstarter NOW LIVE

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/foxandshadow/fox-and-shadow …
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rune_c

Synthesized crickets chirpPrinted to digital tapeRespunAround the atmosphere immediate — _software: supercollider_download: rune_c.wav_project-files: rune_c-SOURCE.zip_license: public-domain / cc0 …
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04-thunderking_arena

Back to using a single chip (after the 3x chips in starfall_island), I would consider this a stronger piece in a compositional dimension, though lighter on atmosphere. This almost suggests a spectrum between interesting composition and atmosphere-building, with your creative energy going more one way or the other. If you want both, it suggests you…
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“rune_b” – Deconstructed

Track and Project: https://johnoestmannmusic.com/rune_b/Support this work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnoestmannmusic …
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rune_b

Supercollider has always seemed like the ultimate solution to my dream of making 100%-open-source music. All parts of the track are clearly laid out in text code. Nothing is obfuscated by destructive processing. If only I could stick with Supercollider and become an expert at the craft. In reality, Supercollider can suffer from the same…
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rune_a

rune_a ran along the idea discovered in hymn – that music can be made of intriguing cycling sounds – and that, just maybe, this style will resonate with other people as much as it does with me. I can’t speak to whether other people do enjoy it, but there is a sense that it is…
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Freeware Creator Magazine – Aug / Sep 2024

Download the Magazine PDF: 2409_fcm.pdf Official Upload of Freeware Creator Magazine – August / September 2024Celebrating quality art + tools, released for free by their creators. — Aug / Sep 2024 —Featuring: SuperColliderJames McCartney + Community [ Official Site ][ GitHub ] KritaKrita Foundation + KDE[ Official Site ][ GitLab ] WikipediaWales + Sanger +…
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Fox and Shadow Kickstarter kicking off 23rd October

I’ve been working with Paper Cactus Games on our futuristic deck-builder game, Fox and Shadow, for the last couple years. I’ve been creating the music and sfx, and the further we go in, the more bespoke sounds we create. Great news is that our Kickstarter will be kicking off on the 23rd October, so make…
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airstream_crater

After discovering the particular aesthetic of resampled synths at the beginning of the album, but finding that creating new synths for each new track made each new composition a little too big a project, I decided to start a sample pack of my own, called MechSounds. MechSounds includes the synth presets and projects used to…
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A Year Researching AI

Along with my research team, I spent the last year interviewing game professionals about how audio AI is affecting their workflow, motivation, and feelings about the future.The project timeline of 2023-24 also happened to be an explosive year for Music GenAI globally. It affected me, and many others, in a range of ways professionally and…
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Switching to 2-Month magazine releases

Hey everyone, Due to my workload, and wanting to only include items in the magazine that I genuinely believe in, I’ll be switching to 2-month release cycles. This shouldn’t cause too many issues, as you will always have the entire backlog to enjoy. 🙂 Thanks, John…
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Freeware Creator Magazine – July 2024

Download the Magazine PDF: 2407_fcmag.pdf Official Upload of Freeware Creator Magazine – July 2024 Celebrating quality art + tools, released for free by their creators. — July 2024 — Featuring: Raindog Live Raindog [ Raindog Live Video ] [ Purchase Albums ] Online Collections Musée du Louvre [ Online Collections ] The Anarchist Library The…
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hymn

Xenogears has had a profound impact on me. At time of writing, I have played through the game once, and watched Majuular’s 3-hour video essay on it about five times. hymn was created during on of my revisits to the Xenogears world, and expresses that techno-spirituality that the game paints so skillfully. This was also…
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Patreon now live!

My Patreon is now live and updated with all of my personal releases.This music is free for everyone, and can be used in their projects, and I intend to keep it that way.However if you would like to financially support these efforts, you can do so at the Patreon, or through the other links on…
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subtoxic_sands

Unintentionally, subtoxic_sands brings back the bitcrushed aesthetic of Game Boy Advance soundtracks that I had already started exploring in Soundworlds PRL. Vast pixel-art deserts, obscured by primitive particle effects, never needed to be realistic to evoke the same feeling of mystery and adventure as the pyramids did for 19th Century Egyptologists. _software: plugdata + cardinal…
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Making Game Worlds with Music – SA Game Dev Talk 2021

A talk I delivered for South Australia Game Dev Talks in 2021, focusing on compositional and technological approaches to painting a immersive video game soundtrack: …
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No FC Magazine for June

Hi everyone, I am really sorry I wasn’t able to get time to create an issue of Freeware Creator Magazine for June. It was an incredibly busy month for me professionally and personally, and when I went to try and rush it out at the end of the month, I realised my brain simply needed…
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Pipsqueak! Kickstarter going now!

Help us make it a reality! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pipsqueakgame/pipsqueak…
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SAVESTRM

CSound is synthesis programming language, like SuperCollider, but is more designed for exporting WAVs, rather than livecoding. This made it an interesting tool to explore in the context of this album’s resampling. In retrospect, this track could have used a little more variation in the repeating chords, but as a simple wind-swept and reflective piece,…
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Freeware Creator Magazine – MAY 2024

Download the Magazine PDF: 2405_fcmag.pdf Official Upload of Freeware Creator Magazine – MAY 2024Celebrating quality art + tools, released for free by their creators. — May 2024 —Featuring: Ghosts I-IVNine Inch Nails[ Official Webpage ][ Free Download ] Pretty MappChristoph Rieke / Marcelo de Oliveira Rosa Prates[ Online Version ][ Source Code ] THEFT: A…
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[Announcement] Removing my Music from Spotify, etc

[Full text below] Hey, So I’ll be pulling my personal music releases from Spotify, Apple Music, and the other streaming services that Distrokid ships to in the next month or so. I’ll explain more below. You will still be able to do the following: Listen to my video game OSTs on streaming platforms, as it…
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DFRGAUTO

There is something about the mysterious night-time atmosphere of media like Out of Order, which creates a sense of positive intrigue. This works particular well in absurdist narratives. The concept behind FOUNDCARTRIDGE04 is of being a mysterious GBA cartridge found, and each track name a digital tool found on that cartridge. DefragmentAuto, or DFRGAUTO, is…
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DISKEDIT

By the point of starting this album, it was clear that Game Boy Advance soundtracks combine many of the elements that resonate with me: 90s synthesis, resampling that synthesis, and a tracker-based workflow. Fortunately Furnace Tracker includes the GBA MinMod chip to recreate this workflow. Using Vital (in FL Studio) to generate and export synthesized…
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xx-starfall_island

The reason that starfall_island is track “xx”, rather then numbered, is because it uses 3 Game Boy chips side-by-side, rather than the single chip that other tracks on the album use. This was an experiment in seeing whether adding more layers would create a more satisfying sound, while still keeping the lightning-fast workflow of Game…
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Freeware Creator Magazine – APR 2024

Celebrating quality art + tools, released for free by their creators. Read, links, and download at: https://archive.org/details/2404-fcm…
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03-station_hidden_market

One of my all-time favourite soundtracks is the Pokemon TCG game for Game Boy Colour. It was at least a decade after playing it that I realized behind the chiptune sounds, it was Funk music. That soundtrack has always been an inspiration for me, but this track started out explicitly with the goal of getting…
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feylon_reactor

This track brings a workflow that I am particularly proud of – each instrument being synthesized from scratch for the purpose of the track. This workflow ends up being fairly time-consuming on the sound design side, which leaves less energy for the composition itself. Though, having bespoke instrument design does help to give a track…
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snowfield_of_angelmechs

Experimenting with different DAWs, and starting to learn more into open-source tools, snowfield_of_angelmechs utilizes a workflow of recording improvised playing (in this case through Surge XT), and then chopping up, pitch shifting, and re-arranging the recordings. This is a technique that I find quite engaging, but does always make it hard to keep a clear…
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02-eban_troupe_caravan

Circus music is certainly not a style that I would start out intending to make. But after kicking the project off with a 3/4 bass line, the melodies seemed to head that direction on their own. I am most proud of the descending chord-changes at 0:51. Not to say it is that impressive a feat,…
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Freeware Creator Magazine – MAR 2024

I’m very excited to announce the first issue of Freeware Creator Magazine is now available!https://archive.org/details/2403-fcmCelebrating quality art + tools, released for free by their creators. — March 2024 —Featuring: G.M.C.1Keijiro Takahashi[ Full Album Video ][ Keijiro Takahashi ] Canvas CycleEffect Games + Mark J. Ferrari[ Canvas Cycle ][ Effect Games’ Explainer][ Mark J. Ferrari ][…
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01-misty_grave_mountain

I had stayed away from the stereo functions in the Game Boy music up until this point, as the only option is a hard pan either left or right, and I am personally not a big fan of that early-Beatles style (in their defense, this was due to technical limitations more than creative choice). But,…
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Game Soundtracks page live!

You can now see the video games that I have been making music for. Just click “Game OSTs” at the top of the site!…
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00-ursurpers_fortress_of_bones

minimal_worlds #1 was a lot of fun to make for myself, and there was sense that there was more of an audience ready for Game Boy chiptune music. One day I decided I simply wanted to continue that project, and so minimal_worlds_ii is exactly that – a continuation. By this stage, I had a lot…
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Album Release: minimal_worlds

minimal_worlds full album is now available for download! https://johnoestmannmusic.bandcamp.com/album/minimal-worlds https://archive.org/details/minimal_worlds…
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sea_of_symbols

a_new_day_in_the_workshop was the first release in a newly-cemented direction for my personal music releases: a fully open-source stack. The goal was (and is) to make music using virtual instruments and DAWs that allow the project files to be shared and fully explorable – from composition, to automation, to sound design. Ideally, for anything the listener…
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07-broken_window

Much simpler than golden_battletrain, broken_window takes heavy inspiration from Midwest Emo, where strength of emotion is the main thing that matters. Having said that, the movement of the secondary voice (between 1:00 and 2:00) is the more technical aspect of the track, and aims to add (rather than distract from) the emotional throughline. The kick…
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06-golden_battletrain

Ending up as one the catchiest and most technical tracks on the album, golden_battletrain started out as a very-late-night “can’t sleep” project. The steam-engine-inspired noise channel and bass line, combined with the tempo changes, made for a very cool dynamic here. Though it is hard to say if it would work as well if attempting…
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05-selenas_field

Back in Furnace Tracker after the previous track experiment with Renoise – the vibrato function gives a lot of character to leads, making them “closer” to a human voice. In retrospect, this technique is used widely across chiptune music of the 80s and 90s. There is also the realization that chiptune leads should have breaks…
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04-mt_solace

Having pushed up against some of the mixing limitations of Furnace Tracker, the Game Boy sounds were exported and imported into Renoise, which has the capabilties of a conventional DAW. Despite having many more audio options, the aim was to still keep it consistent with the rest of the album. It is not to say…
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03-pneumasprite_pond

As with all composing, but especially seeming the case with retro trackers, you can start out with a very simple repeating bass line or chord progression and weave a melody in around it. Once the dynamics between those begin to resonate, it is easier to spend time refining and humanizing the details of the foundation.…
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02-tower_of_vera

A little stranger melodically, the hook of the track relies on the sound design of the duduk-inspired lead. It was surprising (and welcomed) to find a wider possibility of instrument design than stereotypical square waves associated with Game Boys. As with many tracks, tower_of_vera didn’t start out with a concept (or name) in mind, but…
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01-house_of_the_shoguns_son

Furnace Tracker is impressively robust for a new open-source kid on the block, and includes a huge library of console chips emulated. The Game Boy chip provides the four channels in the real console, limiting you in scope, but focusing you in detail. This track was originally “completed” with a less melancholy melody, but sounded…
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00-alabaster_shore

Trackers seem like a great way to visually show the internals of a music project, so that others curious can investigate how a piece was constructed. If people want to go even deeper, the project files have been provided below. Famitracker is quite powerful once you get past the small obstacle of learning a new…
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0x2A768-PRL | Sgt. Snout’s Puppy Emporium

Datapedia ID: 0x2A768-PRL In a back corner of the town of Divha, Sgt. Snout opened an emporium for lost digital puppies found around the //PRL. Always recognizable, the sergeant wears his signature German Shepherd head and star-studded beret with pride. _download: 0x2A768-PRL.wav_source: 0x2A768-PRL-SOURCE.zip_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A757-PRL | Carthium Mines

Datapedia ID: 0x2A757-PRL While there is no actual mining of raw minerals in virtual platforms such as the //PRL, certain automated background processes have a tendency to manifest visually and become observable by the platform’s citizens. It turned out it wasn’t feasible to patch these manifestations outright, and so the //PRL developers implemented a secondary…
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0x2A756-PRL | Phantom’s Grotto

Datapedia ID: 0x2A756-PRL After deserting his creators for their weakness of character, the “Phantom” of the //PRL carved a shrine of refuge out of a monolith in the Dustlands. Unable to age like real humans, Phantom decided to spend a century away from the civilisation he could not relate to. Rather, he used this time…
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0x2A755-PRL | Sirivia Dome Lobby

Datapedia ID: 0x2A755-PRL While Racing is the most popular sport in the physical world, inside the //PRL the trading chip game, Fivemasters, has empassioned the hearts of the citizens. Its name comes from the five core Energies which the game’s Program Chips belong to: Force, Growth, Electron, Shell, and Flow. Fivemasters tournaments are held at…
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0x2A754-ii-PRL | Cricket Garden (Page 2)

The //PRL influences creations in the physical world, as much as the other way around. For example, the Cricket Garden caught the eye of one of The Weave’s most established concert pianists, Lyna Wish. So inspired by what she called the “Magic Dance of the Crickets,” she wrote an entire symphony of the same name.…
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0x2A754-PRL | Cricket Garden

Datapedia ID: 0x2A754-PRL The creatures that roam the //PRL are actually source-transparent AI, and so anyone can theoretically copy, refine and extend them. While there have been a few incidents of malicious actors trying to create bioweapons out of them, the open-code nature means that the overwhelming majority can develop disarming patches to return the…
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0x2A753-PRL | Substrate Tachyon Station

Datapedia ID: 0x2A753-PRL Being a digital platform, many people think that engineering the //PRL is all about writing lines of code. The truth is that many years ago it reached a level of complexity where its own internal physics had to be considered and integrated with the physics of the non-digital world. One of the…
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0x2A752-PRL | David’s Hill

Datapedia ID: 0x2A752-PRL On a small green hill in the Valley of Memories, a grave sits under a tree with the name David on it. No other information is known. _download: 0x2A752-PRL-Davids-Hill.wav_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A751-PRL | Rust Village

Datapedia ID: 0x2A751-PRL In the extended Divha Industrial Zone, a village was built to support the local manufacturing workforce. With the sweeping shutdowns of factories and most jobs lost, the village is now abandoned (at least on paper). In truth, a few people still choose to hang around the rust-coloured metal-and-sand town, generally developing projects…
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0x2A750-PRL | Taiko’s Digi-Wear Shop

Datapedia ID: 0x2A750-PRL There are a series of hubs throughout the //PRL which act as town squares, general markets, libraries and other common purposes for its digital citizens. The hub Sirivia contains an exciting marketplace of wearable mods to make day-to-day life more streamlined. Taiko, known equally for his eccentricity and geniusly minimal designs, has…
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0x2A74F-PRL | Window Factory

Datapedia ID: 0x2A74F-PRL An abandoned factory sits on the outskirts of //PRL’s Industrial Town of Divha. Built as part of one business’ short-lived venture in manufacturing digital aesthetics, it gets its name from the company’s line of custom-made windows for digital construction. The factory remains standing and empty – one of the iconic reminders that…
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0x2A767-PRL | Lost Starmap 7

Datapedia ID: 0x2A767-PRL One of the twelve mysterious Starmaps hidden around the //PRL. Discovered in an abandoned house in the Rust Village. _download: 0x2A767-PRL.wav_source: 0x2A767-PRL-SOURCE.zip_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A766-PRL | Options 1

Datapedia ID: 0x2A766-PRL This Options menu code was excavated on the outskirts of the //PRL‘s port town of Sirivia. _download: 0x2A766-PRL.wav_source: 0x2A766-PRL-SOURCE.zip_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A765 | The Iron Rose

Datapedia ID: 0x2A765 Beyond the Deadlands lays a metal city cradled by high cliffs, called The Iron Rose. It was founded 180 years ago by Felix Stow, an engineer who was running from government persecution after a lifetime of state-sponsored work. Felix’s modular construction techniques led to incredibly rapid development. Even with the small number…
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0x2A764-ii | Deadlands Forest Shrine II

Datapedia ID: 0x2A764-ii Buried underground in the north-east of the Deadlands, a hidden chamber of the shrine contains a ceaseless network of gearwork automatons. The hip-height machines are tied to the time of day, and control various objects, platforms, and doors throughout the shrine. This means that the ambitious treasure hunter will need to take…
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0x2A764 | Deadlands Forest Shrine

Datapedia ID: 0x2A764 Ardune is not known for its vibrant flora. Perhaps the Deadlands especially reflect this, where moistureless air makes it very hard for anything to grow. Yet, one species of Stonetree does seem to survive throughout the area, defying current understanding of plants’ need for hydration. Without the nutrients available of other locations,…
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0x2A763-ii | Mineborg Techroom

Datapedia ID: 0x2A763-ii The backroom of Zen’s Workshop is something of an open secret. His cybernetics work raised the interests of the Illika Union many years ago and has become their primary partner for mine-worker augmentation. The Techroom itself is dimly lit, illuminated mainly by the orange and blue screens and LEDs for the job’s…
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0x2A763 | Zen’s Cyborg Workshop

Datapedia ID: 0x2A763 Zen is old, eccentric and much-loved across Ardune. Considered the top cybernetics engineer on the planet, he runs his program out of the same workshop that his career started in. Whether it is ocular transplant refocusing or neural booster-node retrieval, Zen and his apprentices make the job seem trivial. There was a…
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0x2A762 | Bacchus’ Empty Comet

Datapedia ID: 0x2A762 Bacchus was a mysterious and charming woman who crash-landed on pre-treaty Ardune inside a small comet. Starting out as an “invading enemy of the state”, Bacchus was able to quickly disarm political concerns, constantly repeating that she had absolutely no recollection of who she was before the crash, nor did she know…
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0x2A761 | Datastream Terminal Hub 14

Datapedia ID: 0x2A761 One of the Datastream Terminal Hubs in Ardune’s Red Moon Quarry was shattered open during a terrible accident while Maintenance was attempting to repair the 80-year-old protective casing. The official Illika Union announcement stated that, unfortunately, all workers were instantly vaporised and so the terminal had to be completely sealed off. The…
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0x2A760 | Digital Wisp Corridor

Datapedia ID: 0x2A760 Within the Red Moon Quarry is a series of passageways leading to the Datastream Terminals. Ageing infrastructure struggles to fully contain the very-high-energy communications streams, and so on the rare occasion miners have reported witnessing flickering blue lifeforms gliding through the air. After years of dismissed folk-tales, Ardunian scientists were finally able…
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0x2A75F | Red Moon Quarry

Datapedia ID: 0x2A75F The Red Moon Quarry is one of many goliath quarries sprawled across and under the surface of Ardune. The deep red hue comes from the variant of copper ore that is found exclusively on the planet. Ardune’s moons are actually closer to white than red, but the light reflecting off the planet…
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0x2A75E | Windsweep Pillar

Datapedia ID: 0x2A75E A great sculpture-tower sits at the edge of the Cliffs of Windsweep: a 3-tier wooden structure, painted red, and a great glass pendulum swinging as the valley winds pass through. It is said that no matter the stresses going on in one’s life, an afternoon at the Pillar will clear it all…
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0x2A75C-ii | Jungled Carcass of Seasweeper1

Datapedia ID: 0x2A75C-ii Rejid Engineering has never publicly disclosed what happened to their first Cloudcrawler. Though in an interview with Syn Dalos, an anonymous ex-employee explained that Seasweeper1 initially vanished out of contact after exploring the deep-cloud-ocean Seeder Caves. The strange thing is that its communications relay seemingly re-activated 7 months later, well into the…
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0x2A75B-ii | Reactor under the Pharos

Datapedia ID: 0x2A75B-ii The Colossus Project requires enormous amounts of energy to sustain its research and development. One of Sigmir’s more secretive projects is the huge reactor facility built beneath the Pharos of Silent Lightning. The general public would never have greenlit the project given the Pharos’ religious significance, but to the more atheistic minds…
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0x2A75D | Radio Tower of Orphenn

Datapedia ID: 0x2A75D Orphenn is a small hamlet in the north of Sigmir’s east island, Sentrus. Initially it was a thriving community of engineers and their families, but most have left over the years to commit themselves to Sigmir’s Colossus Project. What remains is a population of no more than fifteen – a population often…
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0x2A75C | Seasweeper2 Observation Pod

Datapedia ID: 0x2A75C Sigmir’s cloud oceans are filled with mysteries. As technology evolved on the planet, small submarine type vehicles emerged, called Cloudcrawlers, with the single purpose of exploring these mysteries. The Seasweeper line of crawlers are developed by Rejid Engineering, a small team of generational engineers. These vehicles were designed explicitly for observing and…
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0x2A75B | Pharos of Silent Lightning

Datapedia ID: 0x2A75B A gigantic lighthouse, a pharos, stands watching the Great Coast on Sigmir. As the stormy planet has no liquid seas, but rather swirling oceans of clouds, the ships it surveys range from those diving in from space to the Cloudcrawlers which emerge from below. The Pharos itself is built from huge pillars…
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RC-CRS-I-4 | Solar Grove

Datapedia ID: RC-CRS-I-4 Fourth location listed in Delfin’s Cruise Diaries: “Solar Grove: Deep inside the Navigor Jungle on Gardenia is an open grove. Though the circuit around its perimeter is small, it is still a great cruising option if you’re ever on the planet. While there is some small scale research in the fields there,…
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RC-CRS-I-3 | Orange Avenue

Datapedia ID: RC-CRS-I-3 Third location listed in Delfin’s Cruise Diaries: “Orange Avenue: Long stretch of vibrant market in Saphna’s capital. The name comes from the orange outfits that all the vendors on this specific stretch wear. Slow cruising along the main stretch there is great. Even though it always raining on Saphna, this place feels…
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RC-CRS-I-2 | Sandtitan Tunnels

Datapedia ID: RC-CRS-I-2 Second location named in Delfin’s Cruise Diaries: “Sandtitan Tunnels: Huge tunnel-network left by ‘Sandtitans’ – goliath beetle-like machines created to survey and excavate rare minerals from beneath the Ourosian deserts. With enough reflex practice, the sudden fork-road decisions put you into a kind of meditative trance. Ending up in pits of sparkling…
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RC-CRS-I-1 | Septr

Datapedia ID: RC-CRS-I-1 First location named in Aster Delfin’s Cruise Diaries:“Septr: Blue-purple dwarf moon floating without a parent. Hollow mountains and deep atmosphere which makes it look like it’s always late dusk. Perfect cruise for clearing your head.” As Delfin’s racing career progressed, he became something of a media personality giving the public an insight…
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RC-SOO-XVI-6 | Botanic Fields Race

Datapedia ID: RC-SOO-XVI-6 Beyond the Graveyard of Ships, tucked away in rarely touched desert hill-lands, is a lush oasis called The Botanic Fields. While this level of vegetation shouldn’t exist on an arid planet such as Ouros, it is thanks to the research and transplantation from Gardenia that have created a hardy seed that thrives…
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RC-SOO-XVI-5 | Sandwalker Crater Race

Datapedia ID: RC-SOO-XVI-5 The road through the Dust Tunnel bore into the side of the Sarajji Mountains comes out to a large open cradle nested by the mountains. At the centre of this cradle is a huge crater from a meteoric impact ten thousand years ago. According to legend, this meteor hit Ouros as a…
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RC-SOO-XVI-4 | Graveyard of Ships Race

Datapedia ID: RC-SOO-XVI-4 The fourth race of the Sands of Ouros Cup (Season XIV) takes place in what was known as Ekka’s Teeth long ago. This old name came from the harsh rockforms piercing out of the ground towards the sky and its providence under Sandwalker Ekka (also called The Bone Collector). Many ships have…
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RC-SOO-XVI-3 | Whitesands Night Race

Datapedia ID: RC-SOO-XVI-3 The third race of the Sands of Ouros Cup is a night race weaving through the outskirt suburbs of Salanth, out into the open Whitesands and ending at the Shrine of Zadra. The Whitesands get their colour from the dust blown off the Sarajji Mountains to the north-west during sandstorms. Being a…
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RC-SOO-XVI-2 | The Vastness Race

Datapedia ID: RC-SOO-XVI-2 Race 2 of this season’s Sands of Ouros cup takes place in the sprawling and seemingly infinite desert called “The Vastness” by the locals. Dunes rise and fall through these lands. If you look to the horizon, you may glint Mephora nomad encampments close to geological landmarks and crashed ships, but there…
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RC-SOO-XVI-1 | Blacksand Beaches Race

Datapedia ID: RC-SOO-XVI-1 Welcome to Season XVI of the Sands of Ouros Cup! This Racer Competition takes place on the desert planet Ouros. While for most of the year Ouros is peaceful, the end-of-year sandstorms have been known to shred transport ships out of the sky. The sands of Ouros are to be respected, and…
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0x2A74E | Repeater Babo

Datapedia ID: 0x2A74E Repeater Satellite Babo orbits the fortress planet, Helena. It was originally designed as a relay station for military intelligence, but after the Hermus Treaty brought an end to war in The Weave, it was reconfigured for civilian-facing radio. It occasionally gets hijacked for pirate radio broadcasts, though this is allowed by design.…
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0x2A74D | Azurus Biochain

Datapedia ID: 0x2A74D The Azurus Biochain is the name given to a series of research facilities, all specialised in the genetic modification of plants. These facilities are all independently owned, but operated without contention or competition between them. The key to this peace is a Triangular Trade style system, where each facility – each team…
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0x2A74C | Repeater Amon

Datapedia ID: 0x2A74C Twenty-six Repeater Satellites hang throughout The Weave’s space, absorbing transmissions from stations such as Radio Fusayne and re-broadcasting them so they can be heard from the system’s deepest corners. They are fully autonomous, but can be boarded for maintenance and upgrades. The first were created on Pentura, though recently they have been…
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0x2A74B | Windfields of Leviathan

Datapedia ID: 0x2A74B Leviathan is a planet with multiple deep histories amongst its several cultural lineages. Megira Orion, for example, was a man originally from Raluhde who ended up forging a strong friendship with Matriarch Patria and the rest of the Sun Cave Village, and forming a cultural bridge. However, he is most famous in…
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0x2A74A | Radio Fusayne

Datapedia ID: 0x2A74A Radio Fusayne is a nichely popular Satellite Radio Station broadcasting across The Weave. The station specializes in minimal dance beats and is hosted by the high-energy, highly distractable, and occasionally philosophical Jees Mundo. Like most Satellite Stations, it isn’t locked to any single planet’s orbit, but tends to move based on major…
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0x2A749 | [discovery_fragment]

Datapedia ID: 0x2A749 [³⁴⁷¹]he temple to the Twin Gods on Hermus no longer sta[₄₅₈₁] [⁵²⁰⁰]ho can follow in their dual footsteps when half the popula[₆₃₅₃] [⁷¹⁵¹]gh today, their deep devotion and spirituality has transfor[₉₁₄₀] ERR[028]:ENTRY_INCOMPLETE _download: 21-0x2A749-discovery_fragment.wav_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A748 | Forbidden Swamps of Sanctuary

Datapedia ID: 0x2A748 The micro-planet Sanctuary got its name after it was originally settled as a safe-haven from the displaced Indigenous peoples of Ardune. Under their leadership of Faeru zun Nabul it looked to be a healthy restart after the First Ardunian’s tragic refugeeship. Unfortunately, the swirling black swamps on Sanctuary are host to a…
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0x2A747-ii | Hyperway Station Construction Zone (Page 2)

Datapedia ID: 0x2A747-ii While the site is still under construction and officially off-bounds, it is a favourite for unofficial races between rival Racer pilots. Corridors of huge spiralling fusion turbines provide expert-level obstacles. The station’s neon-lined circuit-like structure can make you wonder if the Relatech architects built a capacity for racing into its design so…
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0x2A747 | Hyperway Station Construction Zone

Datapedia ID: 0x2A747 The Relatech Hyperway Station will be the core node in the Stellar Hyperway Network for “jumping” between planetary locations. Owned by Relatech Industries, the station is currently under construction. While the site is officially off-bounds, it is known as an active hotspot for unofficial races. The East Wing of the Station has…
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0x2A746 | radio_intercept

Datapedia ID: 0x2A746 RADIOLOG-10164: Radio intercepted from a Racer-class vehicle after an unofficial race on Ouros’ moon, Dendora. More information to come. _download: 17-0x2A746-radio_intercept.wav_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A738-ii | Threadwalkers Tour Club (Page 2)

Datapedia ID: 0x2A738-ii When the Threadwalkers first established their own interstellar radio network, the first message broadcast from the HQ at the Tour Club on Pentura said the following: “Hello fellow Threadwalkers! If you are hearing this, then our new Interstellar Radio Network is live! This will make it possible for us to share the…
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0x2A745-PRL | Firebloom Academy

Datapedia ID: 0x2A745-PRL Firebloom Academy is a digital religious school in the //PRL. It is known for its beautiful gardens, its use of modern technology when compared to most physical-world religious institutes, and that its students all wear military-style Firebloom uniforms. It is only just over two decades old and there is still a lot…
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0x2A744 | Tomb of Zilst

Datapedia ID: 0x2A744 Zilst, The Caravan Builder, was born on Leviathan, but spent large portions of his life on Ouros with the other Sandwalker Spirits. Zilst’s tomb (which is built into the side of Mt Duskfire’s base) was also one of the stops made by Ambrenna ra’Syrese on his own legendary journey up the mountain…
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0x2A72B-iii | Salanth Town Gardens (Page 3)

Datapedia ID: 0x2A72B-iii The people of Salanth were shocked to hear about the tragic death of Rejja in a crash during the Graveyard of Ships race. He had been racing in the IRF championships before most of them were born. How someone with that much racing experience could be the only one to die in…
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0x2A743 | [discovery_fragment]

Datapedia ID: 0x2A743 [⁰⁴²¹] built between Rejja and Zadra on the outskirts of The Vastness [₁₃₁₈] [²¹⁰¹] were inseparable, and the Sylph Outpost quickly became their [₂₇₈₂] [⁴²³³] watch the Ourosian birds together to get away from it all. ERR[028]:ENTRY_INCOMPLETE _download: 12-0x2A743-discovery_fragment.wav_music-license: public-domain / cc0 …
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0x2A742-ii | Magma Refinery (Page 2)

Datapedia ID: 0x2A742-ii Humans and androids live and work together equally on Pyron, but they don’t see themselves as separate. Human-born modify themselves with Plates, Genetic or other pragmatic Mods and become increasingly bioengineered. Android-born will often spend their earnings on sensory and emotional simulation upgrades to increase their depth of experience. The result is…
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0x2A742 | Magma Refinery

Datapedia ID: 0x2A742 The volcanic planet of Pyron is webbed with meshes of Magma Refineries. Due to the intense temperatures, these refineries are staffed by an equal mixture of fully autonomous androids and humans with heat-resistant Plate Mods synthesised from volcanic rock. Long ago the Pyronese discovered that the energy contained in magma can be…
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0x2A741-ii | Shrine of Zadra (Page 2)

Datapedia ID: 0x2A741-ii During one of Ouros’ Double Eclipses, Fiilo of the Mephora was visiting the Shrine of Zadra when she swore she saw Zadra alive and in the flesh – except his hair was pale white and his robes dark and tattered. It turned out that this was one of the creations of Rena,…
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0x2A741 | Shrine of Zadra

Datapedia ID: 0x2A741 The final resting place of Zadra Usova, one of the five “Old Masters” of Racing. Working as a builder in Salanth until his late 20s, he had the opportunity to become the next reincarnation of The Caravan Builder, due to his friendship and training with the Zilst of Leviathan. At the last…
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0x2A740 | The Falling Palace

Datapedia ID: 0x2A740 The Falling Palace is an artificial floating platform housing the Royal Castle of Saphna and surrounding markets. It gets its name from the liquid style of architecture which draws inspiration from Saphna’s own endless rains. Its markets are open to the general public every weekend. Otherwise, it is closed off and kept…
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0x2A73F-PRL | //PRL Lobby (0A)

Datapedia ID: 0x2A73F-PRL The Parallel (stylized as //PRL) is the digital world that most people in The Weave happily log in to each day. Each person (from PRL Alliance planets) has their own single avatar that is generated for them at birth, and so it becomes nothing less than a part of their core identity.…
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0x2A73E | Myra Megafortress Ruins

Datapedia ID: 0x2A73E The Myra Megafortress is a now-defunct artificially intelligent combat fortress designed and operated by the Myra Defense Union (MDU). For years the fortress was seen as a terrifying and invincible behemoth of battle. After its 6-year-long design and construction and 3-and-a-half years of combat operation, the AI in the fortress mysteriously malfunctioned,…
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0x2A72B-ii | Salanth Town Gardens (Page 2)

Datapedia ID: 0x2A72B-ii The main gardener at the Salanth Town Gardens was a man named Rejja. He was quiet, polite, and yet a determined older man. Despite his age, he also raced in the IRF with his Racer: Jherop Phantom. While he never won a championship, he was considered genuine competition for the other pilots.…
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0x2A73D | [discovery_fragment]

Datapedia ID: 0x2A73D [⁶²⁷⁰]he Wooden Castle still stands by the swamp and has become a popular tourist destination despite it not being officially open to the public. It’s not clear what became of Danesh, though there is some speculation of resemblance of Dunam Project Four designs and his archit[₈₃₄₀] ERR[028]:ENTRY_INCOMPLETE _download: 03-0x2A73D-discovery_fragment.wav_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A73C | Double Prism Ark

Datapedia ID: 0x2A73C There is an artificial double-comet speculated to be a galactic art piece, though it is still not known who created it. As the two crystal prisms rotate around a central axis, they take in the light from all the interstellar bodies around it and refract it back out like an ever-adapting kaleidoscope.…
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0x2A73B | Gestalt Canals

Datapedia ID: 0x2A73B Pentura City Underground is a network of canals used for industrial transport to free up the streets for public use. While the layout largely mirrors the streets above, there are many additional connections and warehouse hubs – a large number are locked away and never made it onto any official maps or…
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0x2A73A | [discovery_fragment]

Datapedia ID: 0x2A73A [²⁰⁵⁷] said that the Ashfall Mountain was the last safe space left on Sanctuary [₄₆₂₈] ERR[028]:ENTRY_INCOMPLETE _download: 20-0x2A73A-discovery_fragment.wav_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A739 | Mountain Town of Urnh

Datapedia ID: 0x2A739 Nestled in the mountains, watching over the south-west Penturan seas, there is a small town named Urnh. Populated mainly by a dozen and a half Indigenous Penturan families, they choose to keep to themselves. As such, Urnh’s culture is distinct and very different from the more visible Penturan heritages. One of the…
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0x2A738 | Threadwalkers Tour Club

Datapedia ID: 0x2A738 Thank you for exploring the Datapedia. We usually wouldn’t put a personal entry in here, but it sincerely means the world to us that you have taken the time to explore The Weave with us. In some ways the Datapedia was inevitable as it is the culmination of everything that the Threadwalkers…
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0x2A737-ii | Shoji Satellite (Page 2)

Datapedia ID: 0x2A737-ii Shoji IV (also known as “The Architect,” or simply “Shoji”) is the CEO of the Interstellar Racer Federation (IRF). She inherited the IRF and the Shoji dynasty at 9 years old when her family (including her father, Shoji III) were killed in the Sunset Hotel Tragedy on Pentura, when a transport barge…
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0x2A737 | Shoji Satellite

Datapedia ID: 0x2A737 The Shoji Satellite Markets, which are run from the lower deck of the satellite, are considered an essential market for any Racer pilot. It draws pilots, mechanics, merchants and corporations to buy and sell anything from small parts to entire Racers. Officially, the markets only accept Racer Credits, an official IRF limited…
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0x2A730-ii | Helix Seacaves (Page 2)

Datapedia ID: 0x2A730-ii Ishak Tail is best known as pilot of Lumina Podsnake in the IRF League One. Though he also happens to be Second-Brother at the Helix Seacaves Lab. Being part of the first generation of Helixites born on Azurus rather than migrating from Saphna, he sees the ocean planet as his home. His…
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0x2A736 | Dunam Magnarail Station

Datapedia ID: 0x2A736 Dunam is one of the larger colony districts in South Pentura, though it is dwarfed in size by Pentura City north of the equator. Few Dunami citizens have reason to visit the capital (other than the rare holiday they are able to afford there). Those who do make the daily commute are…
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0x2A735 | UDA Azurus

Datapedia ID: 0x2A735 A small office made of 3 fused transport containers on the western blade of the Azurus Biochain. A fourth container was recently added to serve as a training room. Though humble, the interior mirrors the sleek modern look and equipment of any other United Defense Alliance (UDA) headquarters. Alongside the Barrier Spikes…
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0x2A734 | [discovery_fragment]

Datapedia ID: 0x2A734 [⁰⁴²⁷] a bronze-woven lighthouse full of gilded mechanical clocks. It has been noted that inside this lighthouse, the flow of ti[₁₄₆₃] [²⁵⁷¹]cept all of the keepers have appeared to look similar over the last four genera[₄₂₆₁] [⁷¹⁴⁰]where they tend to make an appearance at the Chronos Cup every 2 and a half…
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0x2A733 | Cedarwood High Clubrooms

Datapedia ID: 0x2A733 Cedarwood High was not the most prestigious Racing Speciality School, but there have been a few known Racer champions who studied there. One thing they have all said in common is that their commitment to racing was solidified in the clubrooms, where senior students would spend their non-study periods tinkering with and…
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0x2A732 | The Asteroid Monotora

Datapedia ID: 0x2A732 The asteroid named Monotora is one of the youngest and smallest of the Ore Titans, though it is still 16.3 kilometres across. A huge rust-red mining base sits planted into one of its blue-grey craters. This base is the communal home of drone excavators from several usually competing corporations, including Relatech Industrial,…
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0x2A731 | [discovery_fragment]

Datapedia ID: 0x2A731 [¹⁷¹⁶]nternally as the Gamma Zone due to it being the primary location of research for the Gamma Project. As its generators slowly power down, the lab’s once warm lighting grows di[₃₂₇₁] [⁴⁶³⁸]luding Rufus, the head scientist, and Ryon Jr, being the last two remaining at t[₆₁₇₀] [⁶⁵⁷²]ith his new biologically spliced strength,…
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0x2A730 | Helix Seacaves

Datapedia ID: 0x2A730 The first lab on Azurus was built into a deep cave network by the Helix monk-scientists of Saphna. It lacks doors and operates entirely underwater – the researchers instead choose to wear air-tight mobility suits for oxygen. While its waters hang suspended in a pitch-dark blue glow against the worn turquoise of…
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0x2A72F | IRF Outpost

The Interstellar Racer Federation (or IRF) discovered that its broadcasting of races through courses across The Weave is actually a highly effective way to promote diplomatic relations and tourism between all societies. These races often go into natural and traditionally important areas, and so the Federation enforces strict rules on its pilots to leave the…
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0x2A72E | Henri’s Tiny Cafe

Datapedia ID: 0x2A72E On Antarcticus, there is a tiny cafe run out of the converted back-room of the owner’s apartment. Despite its humble size and appearance, the meticulously designed coffee and cakes on Henri’s own rotating menu are incredible. This menu, combined with the Tiny Cafe’s ability to warmly shield patrons from the year-round snowstorms…
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0x2A72D | Fuchsia Road

Datapedia ID: 0x2A72D Fuchsia Road is the name given to a long spatial stream from Azurus to Ardune, morphing and winding around the cometoids in between. It is one of the most popular trade routes in The Weave and one of the earliest Pacifist Zones recorded. The name comes from the deep fuchsia photon showers…
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0x2A72C | Star Igniters Team Base

Datapedia ID: 0x2A72C There is a team of Racer Pilots from Ardune called “The Star Igniters,” though they are more widely known for their adventures as treasure hunters. Although their leader, Toris, has failed to win a single Racer championship, his energy remains burning as bright as their name. The Star Igniters Team Base resides…
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0x2A72B | Salanth Town Gardens

Datapedia ID: 0x2A72B The sprawling gardens are the icon of Salanth Town on Ouros. While the engineering of the hydroponics on such a dry desert planet are a marvel in themselves, the locals enjoy them for warm and easy Sundays. _download: 03-0x2A72B-Salanth-Town-Gardens.wav_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A72A | Dunam Sunset Towers

Datapedia ID: 0x2A72A The towers in the Dunam district in South Pentura have been left half-constructed after the government last changed power. It’s not clear if building will be resumed, but the roofs of the empty towers make for a great vantage point to watch the sunset. _download: 02-0x2A72A-Dunam-Sunset-Towers.wav_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A729 | Abandoned Genoti Lab

Datapedia ID: 0x2A729 This abandoned lab hides deep in the ocean of Azurus, yet disconnected from the main Biochain. It was owned by the wealthy Genoti Family, though the father-and-son moguls haven’t been seen in quite some time. _download: 01-0x2A729-Abandoned-Genoti-Lab.wav_music-license: public-domain / cc0…
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0x2A728 | City of the Leviathan

Datapedia ID: 0x2A728 The Myth of Ios tells the story of an explorer named Ios who felt called by The Leviathan while resting at Lake Aria, and began a journey to seek and understand the deity. Roughly mirroring the ideological evolution of representation of The Leviathan in actual history, the myth begins with Ios experiencing…
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0x2A727 | Forgotten Shrine in the Forest

Datapedia ID: 0x2A727 Deep within Rachel’s Weave, up on the west peak of Mount Reus, stands the ruins of an ancient chapel-shrine. The prevailing theory is that the shrine was built by the Ela civilization. As the Ela had disappeared before recorded history on Leviathan, it is the engravings of the wreathed goddess motif on…
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0x2A726 | Orion’s Geology Workshop

Datapedia ID: 0x2A726 Megira Orion appears in much of Leviathan’s recorded history as his expertise in geology helped forge a strong relationship with Matriarch Patria of the Sun Cave Village, and his wind-powered precursors to today’s Racers were what kicked off the Orion Wind Cup in Leviathan’s Windfields in the south. Perhaps his most famous…
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0x2A725 | Moon Cave

Datapedia ID: 0x2A725 The second of the two Soul Trials. Contrasting with the Trial of Skypole Gorge, the Moon Cave is a trial of the mind and spirit. Being a secondary cave hidden within the depths of the Sun Cave Village, beyond where the refracted sun rays can reach, its illumination comes from a torch…
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0x2A724 | Skypole Gorge

Datapedia ID: 0x2A724 The first of the two Soul Trials of the Sun Cave Village is one of physical agility and endurance. The Soul Trials are designed to prove the discipline of those seeking the culture’s “Great Mystical Experience”. The Skypole Gorge trial consists of an obstacle course where one must master a careful dance…
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0x2A723 | Sun Cave Village

Datapedia ID: 0x2A723 One theory about the Ela people is that they split into two separate groups after a great schism of cultural values. One half were said to turn to a fully nomadic lifestyle and have since become the Ru-Shi. The other half are said to have resettled in the network of Sun Caves…
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0x2A722 | Rachel’s Weave

Datapedia ID: 0x2A722 The dense forest that grows from Lake Aria’s south side is called Rachel’s Weave, named after a well known folk-tale of the area. In this tale a young woman, named Rachel, went to search for her lost lover who had been exiled to the forest after her village had rejected their relationship.…
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0x2A721 | Lake Aria

Datapedia ID: 0x2A721 Lake Aria is a stillwater lake which appeared as a key location in much of the planet Leviathan’s early mythology. The gargantuan Leviathan deity was said to have been born deep in the waters of Lake Aria. The fact that today we also call the planet by the name “Leviathan” is due…
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